Y'know I thought I was sick to death of hearing about Kate Middleton: all the British media frenzy about her upcoming wedding was boring me to tears. What will she wear?! Who will do her hair?! Which lipstick will she choose?!
Yawn, I thought. Who cares. And I'd turn the page/delete the email that had stuff about her.
But then I read about the bullying she suffered when she was a schoolgirl and suddenly I saw her in a whole new light. A real girl who went through all the crap the rest of us did, or still do. She was in one of those posh Mallory Towers type English boarding schools (she was only a day pupil though - she lived nearby). She was bullied badly - her parents had to move her out of the school and into a new one within a year. Why was she bullied? Well it doesn't really matter does it? Bullies don't need a "reason"
Bullying is endemic in our society and it's gotten even worse now that people can attack others anonymously over the Internet or via text. How many of us came through school without being bullied in some shape or form I wonder. How many of us are bullied in our workplaces?
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Kate has chosen an anti bullying charity as one of the beneficiaries of her wedding gifts, and Irish organisations like Sticks and Stones are doing tremendous work in Ireland to raise awareness and help eradicate the misery of bullying - but there's still a long way to go.
What have your experiences been?
